FROM the initial group of 16 students, an increasing number of people have gone for training and short-term courses since the Open Source Computer Security Laboratory (OSCSL) was launched seven months ago, said Lawrence Hughes, president of Infoweapons and director of OSCSL.

“Awareness of open source technology in Cebu is increasing and being spread out,” he said.

Hughes cited the University of San Carlos (USC) where teachers who have undergone training in the OSCS lab are now introducing open source software to students.

Jeffrey Llanto, Central Visayas Information Sharing Network Foundation (Cvisnet) network manager and Department of Science and Technology (DOST) 7 senior research specialist, also mentioned Cebu Technical School as using open source on its computer-assisted design subjects. By using open source, the school has saved a lot of money that would have gone to buying licenses for proprietary software like Microsoft.

Llanto disclosed that 87 participants from companies and government agencies have attended their training on securing e-commerce, basic Linux, and advanced Linux.

OSCSL also gives on-the-job training to DOST scholars. Twenty-seven students from seven schools, including USC, Iloilo State College, and UP Diliman, have benefited.

Getting help

To teach the increasing number of people interested in the short-term courses, the lab is now getting help from Peace Corps information technology (IT) consultant Justin Wiley.

Wiley, who was sent by the American government agency after a request from the lab, was optimistic about the scholars’ skills in technology. “The students are very intelligent and teachable,” he said.

The OSCSL also serves as a laboratory for open source application development. It is a collaboration of the DOST 7, Confederation of Scientific and Professional Organizations, Infoweapons, Cvisnet, GoldTelecomm Specialist Inc. and Media Hub.

Proprietary software is expensive, so software piracy is rampant. With open source products like Linux, computer users don’t have to steal anymore because open source comes free.

It gives the user unrestricted access to the source code, which shows how the software works. With open source, users can legally copy, modify and share it to as many other users.

An online community in the country (ossc-ph at the yahoo users group) is available for users who have problems or questions about open source technology. Around 119 members of the site have already participated. Many worldwide online support networks are also available like www.secure.net.ph.

Going Linux

According to Hughes, Thailand and Malaysia have endorsed the use of open source Linux on a major scale.

Wiley also mentioned countries and big companies using open source.

IBM is running its computers on Linux. Intel is using it to write the software that tests and tunes its chips. China created its own version of Linux and is running it on thousands of computers. And Google, the largest and most profitable search engine, uses Linux on thousands of machines to provide search capability to the globe.

Hughes acknowledges lots of expertise in graphics and Web design among local IT professionals, but he looks more for people who can produce world-class network security appliances.

“We’ve just hired one local IT practitioner who is not only good in the system administration but also in software development. He is as skilled as some of the best developers in the US,” he said. Aurelia L. Castro, USJ-R intern

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Story Source: Cebu Sun-Star

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